So...as a brand new grad from nursing school, I was wondering if this is a unexpected, albeit NORMAL side effect from working in a hospital.
I first noticed this into my 3rd week of working 12 hr shifts. When I would arrive home after work, I would literally hear call lights, monitors, telephones RINGING in my ears... even when I was sequestered away in the comfort of my home! The pitches and intervals were even the same--which I thought was freaky. Try as I might, I could not control the frequency or presence of the noise, and I just had to endure the 'phantom' rings until my unconsciousness finally released me.
I'm now into my 6th week of hospital staff nursing, and I'm still bothered by these auditory 'hallucinations.' I was just wondering if this is a common phenomenon that is a result of the excessive noise stimulation nurses are subjected to...?? Or am I just going crazy...?
If there are BYCHANCE any fellow sufferers of this, please feel free to recommend how to
rid your mind of the phantom beeps...they are interfering with my sleep schedule. :-/
I'm not a nurse (not yet, at least...getting my pre-req's currently) but I am a CNA and I do hear phantom call lights or bed alarms at home, in the car, everywhere. Especially after a long long day. I have been doing this job for a year and a half and I finally took a vacation to the mountains and the sounds on call lights were in the back of my head. Now today after working 16 hours last night and only getting a few hours of sleep, I was at McDonald's with one of my friends from work, heard beeping that sounded JUST like our emergency lights and I literally jumped out of my seat...I guess its just a habit now!
I hear them occasionally when awake, and often when asleep. It was hearing them while sleeping that drove me nuts, because then I'd either wake up thinking I had to deal with a monitor alarm and then still hear it even though I had woken up, or dream that I was at work, only to then wake up and realize I had to actually go to work, after feeling like I had spent my whole sleep time there.
I got an air conditioner for my bedroom and noticed that I suddenly stopped hearing them while sleeping or awake in the bedroom, I found that an air purifier works just as well for white noise the rest of the year.
That happened to me a lot during my first few months. What was worse was that if one of my kids woke me up during the night, it would take me awhile to come to and realize they didn't need suctioning or any IV meds hung! Or will never forget shaking my husband awake in the middle of the night about diltiazem, LOL!
i haven't heard noises in awhile but a coworker and myself both have this problem when we are at home we will knock on doors before walking in. just a habit. our husbands look at us funny. i used to hear beepers when i worked LTC. it does go away after awhile.
Yes this has happened to me too. Also as a teenager fell asleep at my boyfriends house (now husband) and I called out Welcome to Mc Donalds how may I help you. He just looked at me like honey your not at work anymore. You hear a beeping noise through the headset you wear in drive thru. The beeping syndrome does exist.
Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
I had this problem frequently after a midnight shift in the ER, and would be driving home thinking something was wrong with my car b/c of the beeping in my head. The only solution I could come up with was obsessively running around troubleshooting the alarms while working, hoping to prevent the problem.
On a side note, I am a big believer that constantly alarming monitors/pumps/equipment leads to alarm fatigue, & can result in critical problems going unnoticed I.e. Tele monitor constantly sounding due to artifact, then when pt goes into Vtach nobody pays attention to the alarm. Unfortunately, I worked w/too many coworkers who didn't seem to think it was a problem, & I can't count how many times I would be assigned to a different area & happen to walk through the monitored pt area & clearly see a pt in Vtach, SVT, or so severely bradycardic that asystole was inevitable, on the central telemetry monitor. The part that bothers me is that most of the time there would be multiple RNs sitting in front of the monitor at the nurses station but not one even turned to see what the RED alarm (critical) was, b/c multiple pt's were continuously alarming for minor reasons like a lead or pulse ox being off, alarm limits not adjusted to pt's baseline, etc.
There is an interesting thread on here somewhere that discusses alarm fatigue & how dangerous it can be, and I believe it gives examples on how to prevent it by changing alarm limits for each pt, adjusting lead placement etc for anyone interested. To the posters who also have the issue of "phantom beeping", hopefully you can find that useful in preventing the problem.
yes! I used to hear those bells...but I have to admit eventually they fade, and sometimes I could barely hear the alarms and alert tones at work, given the amount of noise pollution there is out there in a hospital.
Yes, i remember hearing phanton call bells and ivs when i first started as well. Rest assured, it does fade as you acclimate to the job, though the afore mentioned white noise machine may quicken that process.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
As you get more accustomed to them they will fade. Your mind will decipher which are important and which to shut off and when. I have answered my home phone with May I help you? or respondes to over hearing the microwave in my sleepy stupor by jumping out of bed to respond...
I too, recommend a white moise machine or a desktop fan ofr white noise to drown out/neutralize the noise in your head and enviorment.
Alarm fatigue is slightly different.....you become over saturated with false alarms and begin to tune them out too much......The incessant din of beeping monitors can numb or distract hospital staff; the consequences can be deadly
Yes I do hear call bells, co-workers voices, bed alarms, chair alarms and the phone ringing after i get home from work. In the shower especially. I thought it was just me but my co-workers hear these things when they get home too.
He just looked at me like honey your not at work anymore. 
tenn_bsnstudent
44 Posts
I'm not a nurse (not yet, at least...getting my pre-req's currently) but I am a CNA and I do hear phantom call lights or bed alarms at home, in the car, everywhere. Especially after a long long day. I have been doing this job for a year and a half and I finally took a vacation to the mountains and the sounds on call lights were in the back of my head. Now today after working 16 hours last night and only getting a few hours of sleep, I was at McDonald's with one of my friends from work, heard beeping that sounded JUST like our emergency lights and I literally jumped out of my seat...I guess its just a habit now!